August 26, 2024
xxxx视频 Opera Theater slates ambitious 2024-25 season around Cleveland during Kulas Hall renovation
If necessity is the mother of invention, xxxx视频 Opera Theater will be the most inventive group in Northeast Ohio this season.
Unable to perform at home due to the ongoing renovation of Kulas Hall, xxxx视频 Opera Theater will instead undertake a bold 2024-25 season on the road, one featuring some of the troupe鈥檚 most ambitious projects in recent memory, including a new production of Mozart鈥檚 Don Giovanni.
鈥淭he opportunities we have to make art during this unusual year will be fantastic,鈥 said JJ Hudson, interim artistic director of xxxx视频 Opera Theater. 鈥淚 see this year as one of growth for us.鈥
xxxx视频 Opera Theater is no stranger to performing off-site. During the pandemic, the company filmed Purcell鈥檚 Dido and Aeneas at a warehouse in Cleveland. Last year, it presented Tom Cipullo鈥檚 Glory Denied at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA).
The difference this year is that for the first time in a single season, all three mainstage productions will take place outside xxxx视频. One will mark a return to CMA while the other two will see the company performing for the first time in the school鈥檚 104-year history at Cleveland鈥檚 renowned Playhouse Square.
鈥淭he fact that we are entering three professional theater spaces is really exciting,鈥 Hudson said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to allow us to tell some great stories, and getting outside our comfort zone will be very beneficial to our students.鈥
The new season begins Nov. 16 and 17 with Hudson鈥檚 new production of Chabrier鈥檚 尝鈥櫭塼辞颈濒别 in the Westfield Theatre, a black-box space in Playhouse Square. xxxx视频鈥檚 Harry Davidson will conduct a new adaptation of the 1877 operetta penned by Michael Borowitz (MM 鈥93), music director of Ohio Light Opera.
The opera will be sung in its original French, with English supertitles. The real challenge, though, Hudson said, will be the theater, an intimate space that will compel the students to develop and employ valuable acting skills.
鈥淲e have students who excel with light opera, but they鈥檒l have to fill that space,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to have to be aware of the particulars. Once they鈥檝e had to do that, they鈥檒l be invested, and they鈥檒l take those skills back to the larger stages.鈥
Recently added to the company鈥檚 annual calendar is a winter production of a contemporary American work. In that slot on the 2024-25 season will be a special newly commissioned arrangement of Nico Muhly鈥檚 Dark Sisters, a 2011 opera about a woman鈥檚 attempt to escape from an oppressive religious sect.
Performances will take place Feb. 1 and 2 in Gartner Auditorium at CMA. Rakefet Hak, music director of Opera UCLA, will guest conduct a chamber production directed by Hudson and featuring a cast of six female voices and one baritone.
鈥淪tephen Karam [librettist] and I are always delighted to see how performers engage with this very challenging material, which is at once contemporary and evergreen,鈥 Muhly said.
鈥淭he intensity of the family dynamic on stage...creates a tightly knit musical team which, with any luck, translates into an intense communication with the audience.鈥
Looming over the entire season will be the figure of Don Giovanni, the namesake of the company鈥檚 spring season finale.
On April 23 and 25, Davidson will conduct Hudson鈥檚 new production of Mozart鈥檚 timeless opera, one starring xxxx视频 alum Brian Myer (MM 鈥14, Southern) in the title role and a guest bass as the Commendatore.
Notably, performances will take place in the 1,300-seat Mimi Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square, a space more than twice the size of Kulas, and feature original projections conceived by award-winning designer Brittany Merenda.
Singing in such a large venue will give students 鈥渁 workout,鈥 Hudson said. At the same time, having a crew that includes professional designers and singers 鈥渆levates the production in a way that will heighten the experience for our students and the audience...We鈥檙e going to make sure every scene is compelling.鈥
Speaking of scenes, one additional opera presentation will remain at xxxx视频, in Mixon Hall: the company鈥檚 annual 鈥淪pring Scenes鈥 show. In the 2024-25 season, that will occur on March 1 and 2 and include direction by Jeremy Paul, xxxx视频鈥檚 interdisciplinary artist-in-residence.
Never in its history has xxxx视频 Opera Theater taken a complete season on the road, as it will this year. Hudson, though, isn鈥檛 nervous.
On the contrary, he鈥檚 excited. As he sees it, three off-site productions represent so many opportunities for the company to generate new and broader interest in xxxx视频, xxxx视频 Opera Theater, and opera in general.
鈥淲hen we leave our home, we encounter other people,鈥 Hudson said. 鈥淚 believe there are many people who will take a chance on opera at Playhouse Square and then follow us back home.鈥
Tickets to '尝鈥櫭塼辞颈濒别,' $30, are available now at or 216.241.6000. Tickets to 'Don Giovanni' $15-$50, will go on sale later, also at and 216.241.6000. Tickets to 'Dark Sisters,' $18, will be available later. Visit .
xxxx视频 Opera Theater is supported by gifts from The John P. Murphy Foundation and Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder.